Shaili Singh Wishes to Usurp the National Mark by Anju in Asian Championships

As discovered by Anju and Robert, Shaili Singh, a young athlete is looking ahead to qualify for the Asian Championships. Her season best is 6.76m in April.

Written by: Arjita Gupta

Edited by: Krutarth Ghosalkar

Last Updated: July 11, 2023

For the young Shaili Singh, this may be the year of his significant breakthrough. The 19-year-old has made notable progress on the senior international circuit and appears to be on pace to compete in all three of the year's major tournaments. She is anticipated to qualify because of her current world ranking. It all begins on Wednesday with the Asian Championships in Thailand, then moves on to the Asian Games and World Championships. The teenager has made significant progress in the senior international circuit. The highest by an Asian this season is her personal best of 6.76m, which she attained at the Indian Grand Prix in April. Runner-up is the Japanese Sumire Hata (6.75m).

Shaili was discovered by Anju, her husband, and coach Robert, and she has been trained to be the one to surpass that threshold. I have only been playing for five years, and to be able to make it to and compete in the Asian Games and other major meets in such a short time makes me feel lucky. It was made possible by my dedication and the support of my coaches, says Shaili. I am aware that there are expectations of me, and I need to keep trying to perform as I have in the past year. I can perform better.

I have the range to shatter Anju Ma's record this year, as she has asked me to accomplish. My top priority is also that. So, in many respects, it is a significant season, she says. Shaili has advanced gradually since her breakthrough performance at the World U20 Championships in Kenya in 2021, where she won silver. A few challenges stood in her way, such as the stress fracture in her back from the previous year that prevented her from defending her junior world title. However, she has improved this season and has restarted her career.

In February, she competed in the Asian Indoor Championships in Kazakhstan (6.27m), and in March, she jumped 6.65m to take third place in the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold competition, in Yokohama. Shaili was able to control her jitters in a difficult field featuring Australia's world No. 8 and Commonwealth Games silver medalist Brooke Buschkuehl and Germany's world No. 17 Maryse Luzolo. It was her first significant international tournament at the senior level.

A very strong competition took place. A Tokyo Olympian (Buschkuehl) who jumped 7 meters (7.13 meters) was competing. I was delighted that I was able to put up an effort in the first jump and win a medal, but coming to such a huge event and not performing well leaves a negative feeling, says Shaili. She has been practicing taking off. She took off from far behind the board even at the Inter-state meet last month, where she leaped 6.49 meters to satisfy the AFI qualification criteria for the Asian Games.

My runway and takeoff need improvement. I'm attempting to achieve a strong lift off the ground. I fractured my toe and suffered a back injury last year. I was diagnosed with COVID this season in April, and my recovery took some time. The recovery has actually been sluggish. In spite of these issues, I have had a successful season and achieved good IGP results. Shaili's junior worlds medal, when she just missed out on the gold, was one particular event that she claims taught her a great deal.

No one will have a better understanding of the worth of a centimeter than I have, but I learned a lot from it. The attitude was distinct. I have advanced. Ancy Sojan will also be there at the Asian Championships alongside Shaili. At the interstate competition, Ancy won the gold (6.51m). Good competition encourages us to perform better. We gain the self-assurance to raise our individual test scores.